The Literary Festival Newsletter
Following the cancellation of LBF, I think everyone is feeling slightly nervous about the forthcoming season. It’s too early to tell what impact coronavirus will have - things will become clearer over the next few weeks - but hopefully the small(ish) scale of festivals will mean they can continue. There are 25 in March and April, May and June are equally busy. Things quieten down in July and August (bar Edinburgh) but the bumper months are September, October (the busiest) and November. None of these Autumn festivals are on sale yet. You can find the latest advice from the government here.
But moving on to some good news…
Laugharne Weekend is back . . .
You may recall that the Arts Council withdrew their funding for Laugharne after tickets went on sale before the funding had been confirmed, breaching Council rules. Happily, a crowdfunding campaign that raised £6,000 and support from the Wales Assembly has now secured its future. As ever, they have a fantastic line-up that includes Cold War Steve, Brian Bilston and Wreckless Eric.
Sell Outs
In the sometimes nervewracking early sales period, I’m always interested to see which events sell out before others. In Charleston’s priority booking period, tickets for Helena Bonham-Carter, Ai Weiwei, Matt Frei and Peter Westmacott, Jung Chang with Hilary Spurling, Tom Stoppard with Patrick Marber, Gloria Steinem, Lady Hale with Shami Chakrabarti have all gone (the venue holds approx 400). That is pretty impressive so congratulations to Susannah Stevenson in her first year.
In Brighton (venue holds 340), Ali Smith and Craig Brown are the only two priority booking sell outs; at Stratford, just Hilary Mantel. The two surprises for me among these names are Matt Frei (Channel 4’s Europe Editor and former Washington Correspondent) and Craig Brown, who is promoting his new book on the Beatles (I haven’t spotted him on any other festival line-ups).
Elsewhere, Chipping Camden revealed their bestsellers on day one of priority booking were Marian Keyes, James Naughtie, Maggie O’Farrell and Raymond Blanc. Although the first sell outs were food events with the Chip Shop in Poznań (fish and chips and beer included in ticket) and the Cheese Tasting Company (free cheese included with ticket).
New Festival Alert! Age UK Camden
What a fantastic idea - the charity Age UK has launched its own one day literary festival, promising to explore ageing through storytelling. Authors appearing include Sally Vickers, Frances Liardet, Ann Youngson and Hazel Prior. Details here.
European Poetry Festival 2020
We also loved the idea of this ambitous festival that featues 100 poets appearing in 11 events, over 2 weeks, in 5 different cities and towns across the UK and Ireland. It has a pretty bold and contemporary programme and includes showcases for various countries including Switzerland, Latvia, Poland and Austria. Now in its third year, it was founded and is directed by the poet SJ Fowler and receives funding from the Arts Council.
On Tour
Literary event super-promoters Fane Productions continue their impressive expansion. They are currently selling tickets for tours or one off events from: Helen Fielding, Robert Webb, Ruth Jones, Kate Mosse, Salman Rushdie, Fi and Jane, Petula Clarke, Anne Glenconner, Judi Dench, Bryony Gordon, Ranulph Fiennes, Armistead Maupin, Trevor Macdonald, Deliciously Ella, Roddy Doyle, Adam Kay, Jay Rayner, Elizabeth Day, Michael Parkinson and Dame Patricia Routledge, as well as their own Words Weekend in Salford.
Athens of the North
The Edinburgh Book Festival has been in the news. Tamara Zimet has been appointed as the Book Festival's new Deputy Programme Director. Tamara was previously Associate Director at the Sydney Writers’ Festival in Australia and more recently the founding director of Broadside, a festival of feminist ideas based at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Simon Mackay, their successful head of book sales and retail, is leaving. He joined in 2018 and the changes he made resulted in a 17% growth in turnover.
There were also reports in the Scottish press that the festival was under fire due to the state of the gardens in Charlotte Square. From the Scotsman. . .
“Those behind the festival say they are “very concerned” about the gradually declining condition of the 200-year-old Charlotte Square Garden, in the New Town, due to the combined effect of increasing visitor numbers and poor weather. They admit it has been “impossible” to carry out any reinstatement work since October due to repeated problems with the privately-owned park being waterlogged.
“Organisers say the growing difficulties in bringing the garden, which attracted a record 265,000 visitors in August, back up to scratch “cannot continue indefinitely”.
“The festival, which expanded into George Street three years ago, has admitted “long-term investment” is needed to ensure that it remains in the garden, where it has been staged since it began in 1983.”
And finally . . .
Getting the stage and equipment down there is surely a nightmare but we were impressed by the spectacular location of this Swedish music festival, Into the Valley . . .
That’s it for this newsletter! Please follow us on twitter and instagram, add us to your press release list and feel free to get in touch if there is anything you would like us to write about: mathew@bookamp.co.uk. You can get your fellow lit festival colleagues to sign up here.